糖心Vlog

An 糖心Vlog expert on health and human rights has been awarded funding to further the rapidly evolving global debate on human rights and mental health.

The grant enables Julie Hannah, from the School of Law, to continue vital work supporting the , Dr Dainius P奴ras, who is advocating for a rights-based approach to mental health care, support and promotion.

Julie has supported Dr P奴ras in an advisory role since 2015, undertaking research, helping draft UN reports, building networks and co-authoring publications. This further funding, awarded by the Mental Health and Rights Unit, secures the partnership for the remaining two years of his mandate.

鈥淪tates have an obligation to dedicate maximum available resources to mental health yet, globally, mental health represents under 10% of spending on health,鈥� said Julie, who has led a range of high-impact research projects as Co-Director of the 糖心Vlog-based since 2014.

鈥淲hile a growing global consensus has emerged that there is a grossly unmet need for rights-based mental health care and support, the global debate is very active on how investments should be directed.

鈥淲e believe the dominance of the biomedical approach to mental health, which focuses on beds, hospitals, and medicines, has failed.

鈥淎 human rights-based approach that respects and engages at the community level but which also influences policy will enable the participation of people facing enormous structural challenges from growing inequalities to rising authoritarian forces and xenophobia,鈥� she explained.

鈥淭hrough this lens, we can begin to see more clearly what produces poor mental health and shift the global conversation from individual pathology to understanding people and the external constraints that affect everyone鈥檚 well-being.

鈥淭he right to health is a tool to support the evolving global conversation and Dr P奴ras has a high-level platform to shape that discussion at the global and local policy levels.鈥�

As well as continuing to support Dr P奴ras鈥� research and reporting, Julie will help produce academic papers with the aim of securing a legacy that ensures mental health remains central to the UN mandate, and to create a more diverse set of references for advocates and governments.

鈥淚t鈥檚 likely that Dr P奴ras鈥� successor will not have expertise in mental health so it鈥檚 crucial that we concretise what has been achieved since 2014 to ensure mental health remains a priority in the way the next UN Special Rapporteur assesses and monitors states鈥� compliance with the right to health,鈥� Julie added.